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End
of the first three quarters of the ongoing financial year
Woman walks in with fake job letter in DC office; no action taken
AIE/STR teachers protest outside DC's office
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Change in election duties, officials reshuffled
Polyclinic for ex-servicemen
sexual
harassment case
BJYM’s scooter rally a nightmare for commuters
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End
of the first three quarters of the ongoing financial year Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service
Of this amount, Rs 101.52 crore has come effortlessly only by way of VAT refund. By that estimate, the MC should have earned at least double the amount with three-fourths of the targeted income standing at Rs 521.55 crore. This despite the fact that there was no proposal for the levying of the regularisation fee from the unauthorised colonisers and people residing there. The MC had netted an amount of Rs 36.68 crore on this account till December 31 and has already earned nearly Rs 40 crore by now. While the MC had been planning to make an income of Rs 50 crore on account of the sale of properties, including shops at the basement of its administrative complex, it has so far fetched only Rs 1.71 crore on this account. The MC auctions failed to evoke much response, with only two of 63 shops getting sold. The composition fee to be levied on account of deviations in the building plan by the Town Planning Department, which was projected at Rs 10 crore, stands dismally low at just Rs 67 lakh. The "change of land use", which was targeted at Rs 16.35 crore, has been only Rs 8.37 crore till December 31. The department, however, has been making an effort to increase its collection by issuing notices to defaulters and even starting a sealing drive. The income has been low on other accounts as well. The House Tax collection which was targeted at Rs 10 crore, has only been Rs 3.02 crore so far. The property tax recovery too has been quite low so far at Rs 20.9 crore against an annual projection of Rs 50 crore.
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Woman walks in with fake job letter in DC office; no action taken
Jalandhar, February 20 Since the letter came in a proper official format, even the staff was taken for a ride and had even put up her case for consideration, later realising that it bore the forged signatures of the Financial Commissioner Revenue (FCR). A vigilant employee of the District Revenue Officer, who had served under FCR NS Kang during his posting as Deputy Commissioner here, pinpointed that the FCR's signatures had been fudged. The letter even bore a stamp of the office, which, too, the officials believed to be fudged. The staff said they suspected her since there was no demi-official letter from the office and that such appointments were made only by the Service Selection Commission. "The moment the woman realised that officials had got sceptic about her credentials, she preferred to flee from the office not to return," said an employee of the DC office. The incident occurred on February 3, but no one has yet taken up the matter with the police even 17 days after the incident. This despite the fact that the DC office staff is in possession of documents proving her identity and has also managed to save her pictures from the footage of the CCTV cameras outside the office. The documents show the name of the impostor as Sukhdeep Kaur, daughter of Major Singh, a resident of Jalalabad village, Tarn Taran. Deputy Commissioner of Police Rahul S. said no such incident of forgery had come to him as yet. Deputy Commissioner Varun Roojam said he had got the matter verified from the FCR office and found the letter to be bogus. "We will lodge a complaint with the police regarding the matter, but I am not very confident if her whereabouts can be found from whatever evidences we have," he said.
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AIE/STR teachers protest outside DC's office
Jalandhar, February 20 Members of the AIE/STR teachers union had gone to the DEO (Primary) Kuldeep Sharma’s office this morning, but were kept waiting until 2 pm. Later, they were told that the DEO had headed home as he was not feeling well. Irked at the behaviour which was meted out to them, the teachers protested outside the DC office and blocked traffic until they were pacified by the SDM, ADCP and DEO (Secondary) Neelam Kumari and told that their appointment letters would be released tomorrow. The AIE/STR teachers were among the non-degree holder teachers who had been awaiting jobs in the primary department. While the government had promised them that they would be given jobs after they cleared their degrees, the promise wasn’t kept. After the EGS teachers’ protest at Bathinda, the state government had promised them that the appointment letters would be issued to all EGS, STR and AIE teachers within a few days. While the process of the release of appointment letters has been started in the rest of the state, in Jalandhar the 287 AIE/STR teachers rued that their appointment process had not started. President of the union Kuldeep Kumar said, “The teachers had been waiting outside the DEO primary’s office since morning and our meeting with the DEO was being delayed on one pretext or the other. At 2 pm, we were told that the meeting could not be held as the DEO had left because he wasn’t feeling well.” “Jalandhar is the only district where the process of issuing appointment letters to these teachers hasn’t even started yet. That is why we had to take to the streets. But we have been promised by the DEO (Secondary), who asked us to end the protest, that letters will be issued to us tomorrow in today’s date. That is why we ended it,” he said. The teachers have been told that the orders will be issued for the release of their appointment letters on Friday before 12 noon. ADCP Naresh Dogra, SDM Neeraj Kumar and DEO (Secondary) Neelam Kumari gave them this assurance. Anganwadi workers’ protest
Activists of the anganwadi Mulazam Union Punjab CITU held a protest outside the DC office here today. The workers held up traffic on the road outside the DC office in Jalandhar for over an hour, causing great inconvenience to commuters. They even closed the gate of the DC office and prevented people on foot along with those on vehicles from going inside the office. Some irate commuters also indulged in arguments with the union members as they were being prevented from walking across the road. Workers blocked traffic and expressed their resentment against both the Centre and state governments by burning effigies of PM Manmohan Singh and state CM Parkash Singh Badal. The workers protested, saying Anganwadi workers and Helpers being totally sidelined in the Budget proposed by the Punjab Government. they said on December 12, 2013, the government had promised a hefty increase in anganwadi workers and helpers’ allowances after a rally at Delhi by them, but did not keep the promise. They said while the Haryana Government was paying Rs 7,500 to workers and Rs 3,500 to helpers, the workers in Punjab were being paid Rs 5,000 to workers and Rs 2,500 to labourers. Workers said they had been working at various centres for the past 35 years and yet were being paid so less. They said now the Centre and state governments were planning to send them home devoid of pension and gratuity, which the union would not tolerate. As long as the government did not pay (Rs 1 lakh to workers and Rs 50,000 to helpers) pension and gratuity, the union would not allow them to oust any worker or helper, they said. They demanded that allowance of Rs 15,000 per month to workers and Rs 7,500 per month to labourers should be given as per the recommendations of the Indian Labour Conference. Punjab chairperson Dharmajit Kaur was present at the dharna and it was addressed by Krishna Kumari senior vice-president, among others. Other key demands of the union included conversion of the ICDS scheme into the government department scheme and provision of grade three and four to workers working under it. |
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Jalandhar
votes 2014 Umesh Dewan and Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, February 20 While the BJP is already in an active mode in the wake of the party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's successful rallies in different parts of the country, the SAD rank and file is also gearing up for an aggressive election campaign. Top brass in the Akali Dal confirmed that after Modi's Jagraon rally on February 23, the election campaign of Tinu would kick off. Notably, having started his political innings in 1993 as the youngest sarpanch of Khurla Kingra village, Tinu (47) managed to take another big leap in his political career after he was chosen as the Akali candidate from the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat. Even though it will not be the first Parliamentary election for him for he has already fought on a BSP ticket from the erstwhile Phillaur constituency, still with bigger parties (SAD and BJP) supporting his candidature, he will definitely be hoping for success. Speaking to Jalandhar Tribune, Tinu said, "To chalk out the election schedule, I have already convening meetings with the MLAs of all the nine assembly constituencies of the district, which comprise the Jalandhar parliamentary constituency. At the moment, our entire focus is on Modi's rally. After that, I will start a whirlwind tour of all the assembly segments. What is good is the fact that our alliance partner is already in an aggressive poll mode. Also, I enjoy support of all the SAD-BJP leaders and MLAs from Jalandhar and there is no internal bickering in the alliance over my candidature, which is a positive and significant factor during the electioneering." Political experts feel that the early announcement of the candidate and the joint effort by the SAD-BJP would certainly give a major impetus to the alliance as far as giving a tough fight to the Congress, which has been winning the Jalandhar reserved seat for the decade and half. Another political repercussion of the SAD declaring Tinu as its candidate would be a by-election in Adampur. Meanwhile, taking a dig at the Congress, Tinu said sitting Congress MP Mohinder Singh Kaypee has failed miserably in Jalandhar. "Kaypee can't claim to have brought about even a single big project for Jalandhar. He even remained inaccessible to the people of the city. At the same time, the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre has earned the dubious distinction of ten years of misrule, scams and corruption," he said, while adding that the announcement of his early candidature would also benefit him in the elections as the Congress has the tradition of announcing its candidates just in the nick of time. No family legacy Politics did not come to Pawan Kumar Tinu as legacy. During a one-on-one chat session at his residence, Tinu shared his past saying, "No one even in my extended family has ever been a Panch before me. Politics just happened when I was a student of MA (Economics) at DAV College here. I was a fast bowler in my cricket team and started organising tournaments in the memory of my deceased brother. We often required funds for which we had to reach out to the administrators, politicians and the city's who's who. This is how it began and I was picked by the elderly in my village to contest the panchayat polls. I was just 26 and not even married at that time. Ever since, there has been no stopping." Past electoral experience In 1997, Tinu fought as a BSP candidate from the then Jalandhar South Assembly seat grabbing nearly 26,000 votes. In 2002, he again fought from the same seat bagging the same vote share of 26 per cent, ensuring that the contest remained triangular, whenever he fought. Both the times, he had contested against sitting Congress MP Mohinder Singh Kaypee, who is likely to be his rival again for this reserved Parliamentary seat. In 2004, he secured 1.58 lakh votes when he contested from the erstwhile Phillaur Parliamentary constituency on a BSP ticket. His maximum share of votes was from Adampur, Phillaur and Nurmahal assembly segments, which are now covered under the Jalandhar Lok Sabha seat. Tinu’s business Not many people in Jalandhar know that Tinu runs the business of Pepsi distribution in Jalandhar. "I have forayed into various businesses and have had to wound up many owing to little success. But this one I started eight years back and it is paying me well. The blue autos you see going around for home delivery of cold drink bottles are mine," he revealed.
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Change in election duties, officials reshuffled
Jalandhar, February 20 With transfers still underway, the election office here is expecting more changes in designating officers as assistant returning officers for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. Even as the returning officers of Assembly polls automatically become Assistant ROs in Lok Sabha elections, this could not be the case this time. Election Tehsildar Karnail Singh Bains said he had recently moved several proposals to get fresh notifications for getting officials re-designated and more were in the offing. While Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner was the designated RO for Jalandhar West, the incumbent has not been appointed the ARO. Instead, Chief Administrator, Jalandhar Development Authority, Jaskiran Singh had been appointed as the ARO recently. However, the Election Tehsildar said he had again mooted another proposal to instead designate Joint Director (Investigation), Excise Department, TS Virk on the post as IAS officer Jaskiran Singh had already spent more than three years in Jalandhar and could be transferred anytime. Jalandhar North, for which the Deputy Director, Local Government, was the designated officer earlier, has now gone to MC Commissioner Manpreet Chattwal as the post of the DDLG is lying vacant since the transfer of Daljeet Kaur. Adampur, which earlier was with the ADC (General) and then with the MC Commissioner, has now gone to Joint Commissioner, MC, Gurmeet Singh who joined the post today. Since Gurmeet Singh is also holding the additional charge as Secretary, Regional Transport Authority, who was the RO during Assembly elections in Jalandhar Cantonment, the election duty attached to the post has now gone to Senior Auditor, Excise Department, BK Virdi. With the changes in AROs, the posts of Electoral Registration Officers of each constituency are also likely to be changed. Bains said that while the ROs and the EROs were the same in the Assembly, the ECI had recommended that the assistants of the AROs should be taken as the ERO who too are being redesignated.
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Jalandhar, February 20 It was inaugurated by Maj Gen PS Sandhu, General Officer Commanding, Panther Division. The aim was to facilitate the Army veterans and people of the area. The General Officer Commanding (GOC), while addressing a gathering of ex-servicemen on the occasion, said the polyclinic would provide medical facilities to nearly 13,000 ex-servicemen of Sri Hargobindpur and surrounding areas. Earlier, the people of this area had to travel over 35 km to avail of medical facilities. The polyclinic has been opened in the office building of the Secretary, Market Committee, Sri Hargobindpur, near Dana Mandi. — TNS
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sexual
harassment case Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, February 20 The professor had accused the principal of harassing her by using unparliamentary language at workplace. She had lodged a complaint with the police on December 12 last year. The complainant had also written to the college grievances redressal cell and the women’s cell of the city police against the principal, but to no avail. The city police was forced to constitute a team comprising women personnel, after the complainant objected to the investigations by male staff in violation of the Criminal Amendment Law, 2013. The police put Dr Richa Agnihotri (PPS), as the investigating woman officer and ACP (special wing) Som Nath in the team. Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP), Headquarters, LPS Khaira, who was a part of the investigating team earlier, however, was asked to step down, sources revealed. Sources in the Police Department said the principal had links with the top brass of the police, following which the investigations were withheld for almost a month. Son Nath said he had submitted his report to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Rahul S. However, Dr Agnihotri said she would file her report in a day or two. The DCP said requisite action could be taken only after receiving the findings of both the officers.
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BJYM’s scooter rally a nightmare for commuters
Jalandhar, February 20 MLA Manoranjan Kalia was leading the rally. After passing from different areas, the rally finally converged at the Kalia’s residence near Shastri Market. While addressing the party leaders and activists, Sharma said, “The enthusiasm among the BJYM activists was an indication as to how strong the ‘Modi wave’ is. Modi’s rally scheduled for February 23 at Jagraon would be a mega and historic rally.” Meanwhile, the scooter rally proved to be a nightmare for the commuters because of the haphazard parking of four-wheelers by the BJP leaders who were present. — TNS
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Jalandhar Tribune invites feedback from its readers on issues of public concern relating to Jalandhar,Phagwara, Kapurthala and the nearby areas. Readers can email their views to jalandhar.feedback@gmail.com They can also send their views to: Feedback, Jalandhar Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh - 160029. Letters sent by post must mention 'Feedback for Jalandhar Tribune' on the envelope and it should be signed and must contain the address and telephone number of the sender. It should not be more than 150 words.
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Jalandhar
votes 2014
Jalandhar, February 20
